Where the Crosswalk Ends
Mapping Crosswalk Coverage via Satellite Imagery in San Francisco
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21247566 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marcel E Moran (0000-0002-5637-4971, University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 2250-2266 |
| Publication date | 2022-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2399-8083 • E-ISSN: 2399-8091 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/23998083221081530 |
| OpenAlex | W4225984564 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 42 |
Marked crosswalks are the primary means of safeguarding pedestrian travel at intersections in American cities. In the face of decades-high pedestrian fatalities nationwide, the provision of adequate crosswalks is highly salient. Though, how they are spatially distributed across an entire city, and vary by neighborhood, has drawn little academic scrutiny. Given that, this study utilizes satellite imagery to map the presence of marked crosswalks throughout San Francisco, a dense, walkable city that has struggled to reach its pedestrian-safety goals. For the first time, this allows for a calculation of “crosswalk coverage” for the city as a whole. Manual review of satellite imagery documents that crosswalks are present at 58% of San Francisco’s roughly 6,400 intersections, though they are not evenly distributed across neighborhoods. Both hotspot analysis and comparing crosswalk coverage by Census tracts demonstrates that northern neighborhoods—even outside of the downtown core—maintain higher percentages of intersections with crosswalks than those in the southern half. Intersections exhibit crosswalk “corridor effects,” in that crosswalks often cluster along certain streets, including (but not limited to) commercial areas. In addition, crosswalks in four neighborhoods were analyzed to a deeper extent, including category (e.g., ladder, continental, and standard), condition, and “completeness” or the number of adjacent blocks with a connecting crosswalk. Across these roughly 1,000 intersections, coverage varied from 51% in the Bayview (a historic African American community) to 83% in Pacific Heights (a high-income, majority-white neighborhood). Though these patterns track somewhat with local pedestrian and automobile volumes, crosswalk coverage diverges from these data in many ways, indicating other factors at play in their distribution. Overall, satellite imagery can be used to identify marked crosswalks at scale, evaluate their quality, and probe geographic variation. Armed with such granular data, planners can consider the ways in which crosswalks are present throughout cities—and where notable gaps exist—in their pursuit of Vision Zero goals
Cartography · Census · Downtown · Geocoding · Geography · Pedestrian · Schema crosswalk · Sociology · Transport engineering · Demography · Engineering · Impact of Light on Environment and Health · Traffic and Road Safety · Urban Transport and Accessibility
Sidewalks
Right of Way
What’s your angle? Analyzing angled parking via satellite imagery to aid bike-network planning
Disparities in pedestrian streetscape environments by income and race/ethnicity
The Impact of a Signalized Crosswalk on Traffic Speed and Street-Crossing Behaviors of Residents in an Underserved Neighborhood
A geography of child and elderly pedestrian injury in the City of Toronto, Canada
Death on the Crosswalk
Geographies of Displacement
Urban Sprawl as a Risk Factor in Motor Vehicle Occupant and Pedestrian Fatalities
Street Rivals
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |